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Contents
Posts
How to Draw a Pig – for Kids – with Poetic Instructions
Wednesday, February 25th, 2009
Making a Book with Kids
Saturday, July 5th, 2008Guest blogger Monique Palomares works with me on Mama Lisa’s World en français and Mamá Lisa’s World en español. Monique was also a 1st grade teacher for many years. Now she helps other classes on special projects and accompanies them on trips from time to time.
Background: Some classes in France take their students on a trip for a few days during the school year. The excursion will normally focus on a specific theme. This year, Monique accompanied a class on a trip to a book making facility. The week revolved around teaching the children how to make their own books. Here’s what Monique wrote about the process…
PRINTING A BOOK – Step 1 Making the Paper
Hand-made paper: this type is made with cotton cloth. The cotton is ground with water until reaching a thin consistency. You can see some dry sheets in the photo below…
Cotton pulp in the frame: The frame drains most of the water out, then you turn it over onto a piece of material (flax cloth) and alternate paper and cloth.
We made about a dozen of pieces of paper before we put them under the press to take all the water out and then hanged them to dry like laundry.
Step 2 Marbling the Paper – A Decoration for the Front and Back Cover of the Book
Pour some water, a spoonful of milk, and three or four drops of three different marbling inks. Allow to spread, then gently blow to make them swirl. Take a thin stick and gently draw lines on the surface: from the center to the rim, or from the rim to the center, or a grid pattern. Softly lay a sheet of paper on the surface of the water and gently pat it so that the ink gets fixed on it. Remove the sheet of paper holding it by the edge (not the corners!), lay on a flat surface and gently blot the water. Hang to dry.
Step 3 Decorating the Inside of the Book – : Make a simple drawing and place a piece of thin cardboard (shoe-box type) below it. Then go over the drawing firmly. Go over it again on the cardboard so that it’s kind of carved into the cardboard.
Step 4 Printing the Pictures: You need printing ink and an ink roller and an old cloth to protect your actual clothes since printing ink can’t be removed.
To print, you have to lay a protective paper below your work (like a page of a magazine) so that the ink won’t get on the lower part of the press. Then you put down the inked pattern (inked part up). Next you put down the paper to print, then another piece of protective paper (another page of a magazine), then a piece of thin cardboard (shoe-box like), then you roll the printing roll back and forth.
The printed page…
Another way to make a template for printing an image: After “carving” the drawing, fill it in with glue until the “ditch” becomes a “hill” and allow to dry.
Here is the result:
Another way to print: Carving linoleum…
…Inking it…
…Raw print…
…And after adding some paint…
Step 5 Printing the Words:
The stories had been written at school. Each child had a printed paper with a map of the set of compartments to know where the letters were for printing the words.
Printing…
A printed page…
The younger kids made a stenciled cover…
Covers hanging to dry…
Step 6 Binding the Book:
Holes are drilled all the way through the book for the binding…
The books were binded by “Japanese binding”: it’s done by sewing…
Two of the Books:
Time to read my brand-new self-made book!
Many thanks to Monique Palomares for sharing this with us!
-Mama Lisa
How to Marble Easter Eggs
Sunday, March 9th, 2008Here are directions to create a marble effect on eggs. It’s an easy way to give your eggs more pizzazz this Easter.
1) Hard boil white eggs.
2) Prepare egg dyes. You can use store bought dyes (*see note below) or follow my instructions to prepare natural dyes.
3) You can dye some eggs different solid colors to have a base color for your marbling. You can also leave some hard boiled eggs white as a base color.
4) Put about 1/2 to 3/4 inch of one color of a dye mixture in the bottom of a shallow bowl.
5) Add 1 to 3 teaspoons of vegetable or canola oil to the dye. (You can start with 1 teaspoon of oil and, if needed, add more. The amount you’ll need will depend on the size of your bowl and how you’ll want it to look. More oil will let the base dye show through more.)
6) Quickly, but gently, place an egg in the bowl. Take a spoon or fork to “drizzle” some dye over the top to make a marble effect. Be aware if you’re using food coloring for your dye, it dyes the egg very quickly. So with store bought dye you’ll have to work faster. Using more oil in the dye will keep the dye from seeping into the egg too quickly.7) Take the egg out of the dye and let dry on napkins or paper towels.
8) You can repeat the process in another colored dye if desired.
9) Once dry, the eggs may be a little oily. You can take a napkin or paper towel to spread the oil evenly around the egg to give it an even sheen. If you want a brighter shine, you can put a little more oil on the egg and rub it around to produce a very shiny egg!*You can buy tablets for dying eggs and follow the instructions on the box or you can use food coloring that you buy in the store. Here are my food coloring directions for making egg dye: Use 1/2 cup water plus 1 teaspoon white vinegar plus 20 drops of food dye to make one color of dye mixture.
The photo below shows eggs dyed with a green food coloring mixture. All of the other photos show eggs marbleized with natural dyes.
FYI, I wouldn’t hide these eggs around the house for an egg hunt since they may stain your furniture.
Online Knitting, Crocheting and Embroidery Books
Tuesday, February 26th, 2008Project Gutenberg has some great books that are in the public domain that you can enjoy online or download for free. Most of them are older, but many are as fresh today as when they were first written.
Today I found some on crocheting, knitting and embroidery. If you’re interested in any of these art forms you may enjoy looking at these books.
But first, here’s a poem called “The Praise of the Needle”, by John Taylor, that I thought you might enjoy. It was in one of the books:
Flowers, Plants and Fishes, Birds, Beasts, Flies, and Bees,
Hills, Dales, Plains, Pastures, Skies, Seas, Rivers, Trees,
There’s nothing near at hand, or farthest sought,
But with the needle may be shap’d and wrought.
Here are some of the books with links to their download urls at Gutenberg:Exercises in Knitting
Knitting, Crochet, Point-Lace, etc.
Beeton’s Book of Needlework
Encyclopedia of Needlework
The Development of Embroidery in America
Jacobean Embroidery
Embroidery and Tapestry Weaving
The Art of Modern Lace Making
Cool Craft
Monday, July 24th, 2006Troy at SongStreet posted a very fun looking craft to do with kids, that’s popular in Japan. It’s a sort of boingy thing made with cups and rubber bands, that flies up in the air. Check it out!
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